background preloader

Religion

Facebook Twitter

Christianity and the Future of American Conservatism. One day last year, on a trip to Washington, D.C., I visited two museums: the National Gallery of Art and the Museum of the Bible.

Christianity and the Future of American Conservatism

These two museums sit only a short distance away from one another near the National Mall, but in focus and feel they differ greatly. 'Handmaid' reality: Deeply religious marriages have more spousal equality. Their husbands’ handmaidens, they are not.

'Handmaid' reality: Deeply religious marriages have more spousal equality

Though often stereotyped as subservient — witness the anti-Amy Coney Barrett protesters in Washington, dressed as “handmaid” characters from Margaret Atwood’s theocratic dystopia — highly religious women are, in fact, in charge of their homes. The Barretts’ seemingly egalitarian marriage is a case in point. As Barrett has recounted, her law-partner husband asks every morning “what he can do for me that day.” The kids consider him the better cook, and he proudly does housework. The Barretts aren’t alone. According to a report by the Wheatley Institution published this week, highly religious couples are more likely to say they make “major decisions” together.

Typically, researchers measure religiosity by looking at the frequency of religious church attendance. The Other 23 Catholic Churches and Why They Exist - Ascension Press Media. This article introduces a series in which Nicholas LaBanca will explore the different rites of the Catholic Church, and what makes each of the twenty-four Catholic churches within those rites unique.

The Other 23 Catholic Churches and Why They Exist - Ascension Press Media

For the other parts in the series, click on the following links: Part 2 – The Armenian Rite, Part 3 – The Alexandrian Rite, Part 4 – The East Syrian Rite. Over the past several years, people have become more and more aware of how diverse the Western world has become. Talk of “diversity” often pops up in the workplace and elsewhere, especially here in these United States. Diversity applies not only to culture though, but religion too. Catholics could easily mention recent efforts in ecumenism when the subject of diversity comes up. Why bother providing such a long description for persons we typically call “Roman Catholic”? Chinvat Bridge. The Chinvat Bridge is the span between the world of the living and the afterlife of the dead in the ancient Persian religion of Zoroastrianism.

Chinvat Bridge

Understanding the Missing Empathy of Ender’s Author – Difficult Run. Ender’s Game is, more than any thing else, a book about empathy.

Understanding the Missing Empathy of Ender’s Author – Difficult Run

From the very first line of the book (“I’ve watched through his eyes, I’ve listened through his ears…”) and on to the end the theme of empathy dominates everything the characters do and think about. The Confessions of Saint Augustine, by Saint Augustine. How the great truth dawned by Gary Saul Morson. Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s three-volume opus, The Gulag Archipelago, which some have called the most important masterpiece of the twentieth century, is subtitled: “An Experiment in Literary Investigation.”

How the great truth dawned by Gary Saul Morson

Consider how odd that is. No Westerner would call such a work “literary,” lest someone discount its documentary value. Movsesian Final. The Golden Rule Requires Markets. At the third annual Philosophy, Politics, and Economics (PPE) Society conference in New Orleans last week, Nobel Prize winner Al Roth gave the final keynote speech about, what else, kidney exchanges.

The Golden Rule Requires Markets

I had already read his book on the matter, but a reception was scheduled to follow, so I went. I am glad I did because he made a somber topic quite interesting. He also pointed to a new study that confirms what I have long believed, that most people do not understand The Real Golden Rule. What generally passes for The Golden Rule is some variation of treating others as you want to be treated.

Like Jack Kennedy’s admonition to ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country, it doesn’t stand up to close scrutiny. The Enlightenment, Racist? No, Equality Was Key. Some of its proponents were, but the solution was built in Jamelle Bouie, the chief political correspondent for Slate, recently penned an essay suggesting that the Enlightenment was racist — though the real point seemed to be that liking the Enlightenment too much is kind of racist.

The Enlightenment, Racist? No, Equality Was Key

Regardless, the essay set off quite a hullabaloo, mostly on Twitter. His main targets were two new books, Enlightenment Now, by Steven Pinker, and Suicide of the West, by yours truly. Jordan Peterson, the controversial Canadian psychologist bogeyman of the moment for many liberals, was namechecked for good measure. A wide array of writers took sides, either condemning the essay or defending it. Before I go on, let me disappoint many of my defenders and state here that I think Douthat is mostly right. China passes law to make Islam 'compatible with socialism' China has passed a new law that seeks to "Sinicize" Islam within the next five years, the latest move by Beijing to rewrite how the religion is practised.

China passes law to make Islam 'compatible with socialism'

China's main English newspaper, Global Times, reported on Saturday that after a meeting with representatives from eight Islamic associations, government officials "agreed to guide Islam to be compatible with socialism and implement measures to Sinicize the religion. " The newspaper did not provide further details or the names of the associations that agreed to the decree. China has embarked on an aggressive "Sinification" campaign in recent years with faith groups that were largely tolerated in the past seeing their freedoms shrink under Chinese President Xi Jinping, China's most powerful leader since Mao Zedong. According to the UN, more than one million Uighur Muslims are estimated to be held in internment camps where they are forced to denounce the religion and pledge allegiance to the officially atheist ruling Communist Party.

Why New Year’s Eve Is the Worst. Look, New Year’s Eve sucks.

Why New Year’s Eve Is the Worst

You know it, I know it. It’s all anticipation, no follow-through. It’s invariably a disappointment. You know what’s better than New Year’s Eve? Rosh Hashanah. Here is why I (and perhaps you) hate New Year’s Eve: You’re supposed to get dressed up all fancy (it is fun to be fancy sometimes—but it is not fun to feel pressure to be fancy) and go to a schmancy place that is invariably packed with unpleasant people. Torah, From a Transgender Perspective. Camille Paglia: It’s Time for a New Map of the Gender World.

Embracing Aristotle’s Philosophy in Yom Kippur Liturgy – Tablet Magazine. The Benefits Of Religion Are More Than Spiritual - Foundation for Economic Education. The Arab World is Guilty of Colonialist Reversal. In 1978, Professor Edward Said published the book, “Orientalism,” which helped create Post-Colonists Studies – the study of the legacy of imperialism and colonialism. Said also wrote, “The Question of Palestine,” and throughout his work he argued that Israel’s creation was an act of colonialism. Said’s nephew, Professor Saree Makdisi, has taken up his uncle’s mantle. In one lecture, Makdisi argued that “Israel should be revealed for what is; a nakedly racist settler-colonist enterprise.”

Get The Times of Israel's Daily Edition by email and never miss our top stories Free Sign up! The argument that Israel is an imperialist state takes two forms: The first argument is that Israel acts as an extension of British and then later American Imperialism. A brief history of Arab-Islamic colonialism. Austenistan. Dressed in muslin gowns, they sip Assam tea and nibble on cucumber sandwiches. A maid refills the silver teapot while her mistress and her guests discuss the merits of Lyme Regis over Bath. Outside in the garden, trees drip from a recent shower and birds hop on a damp lawn. It could be afternoon tea in Mansfield Park, the seat of the Bertram family in Jane Austen’s novel – except that the trees are banyans, the birds are Indian hoopoes and the maid wears a shalwar kameez.

This is not Northamptonshire but Lahore. Billed as an “Austentatious Tea Party” on Facebook, it is a gathering of the Jane Austen Society of Pakistan, JASP to its members. Confessions of a Catholic convert to capitalism. Faisal Al Mutar on Media Bubbles, the Two Faces of Al Jazeera, and Nuance – Areo Magazine. Why ISIS Hates Archaeology and Blew Up Ancient Iraqi Palace. On April 11th, a brief video appeared on social media and quickly became the subject of international news headlines and the target of global condemnation. It was exactly what the Islamic State (ISIS) wanted. Middle East Gay Pride and LGBT Safety Exist Only in Israel. Tel Aviv just hosted its 15th annual Gay Pride Festival, attended by a record-breaking 100,000 spectators and participants, including some of Israel's most powerful politicians.

Anti-Zionism Is Anti-Semitism. Get Over It. Is anti-Zionism any different from anti-Semitism? The question is probably the most accurate seismograph we’ve got to measure where one stands on the ever-tremorous political grounds we all walk when we talk about Israel. Not that there’s necessarily any right or wrong answer; civil, well-meaning people can make arguments on both ends.

Kesha, Chained Woman. Kesha is a chained woman. Saying It Has Nothing to Do with Terrorism Is a Lie. What ISIS Really Wants. Untitled. How Aviya Kushner Rediscovered the Bible at the University of Iowa. In August 2002, Aviya Kushner left Jerusalem, where she had been a correspondent for the Jerusalem Post, returned to her parents’ home in Monsey, New York, and then drove a thousand miles west to Iowa City to begin an MFA program in nonfiction writing. She left with just one name in her pocket: Marilynne Robinson. The essayist and novelist usually taught classes on 19th-century literature, and in her first year Kushner took one. How and Why Muhammad Made a Difference. Researchers Just Made A Bombshell Discovery That Could Shake Islam To Its Core. ISIS Causes Bafflement: a Reasonable Response to a Barbarian Upsurge. Black Lives Matter – Except Biram Dah Ould Abeid’s. The Left's Blatant Double Standard.

When Jews Were Like ISIS. The Corner. Why Is the Islamist Death Cult So Appealing? Pope Francis’s Unsexy Reforms. What Pope Francis really said about atheists. From Google to God — TheLi.st @ Medium. The Christian Element in the Hong Kong Protests.